Workshop “Leveraging the cooperation among Research Infrastructures to address Marine Global Challenges”

Santa Marta, Colombia. 7-9th November 2017

What?

This meeting has been organised as part of the COOP+ project and it will examine how environmental Global Challenges can be better understood and tackled by improving how Research Infrastructures collaborate and cooperate together and with research groups on a global scale. The main objective is to create a discussion space where scientists and RI operators can exchange ideas about the problems, challenges and possible solutions to address environmental Global Challenges. Furthermore, the workshop will serve as a starting point to outline and draft a policy- oriented document which will contain the main recommendations derived from the discussion around enabling and promoting international cooperation among Research Infrastructures. This initiative will be also a good opportunity to prepare some manuscripts that would be submitted to the already approved “Focus Collection” in Environmental Research Letters journal. The workshop will concentrate on several marine global challenges:

Coral bleaching

Plastic debris

Arctic sea ice melting

Threats to marine biodiversity

Biogeochemical cycles in the Ocean

Restoring and managing World’s estuaries

Where and when?

The workshop will take place on the 7-9th of November 2017 in Santa Marta (Colombia). The organizing partner for this event will be INVEMAR, a reference centre for marine research in the Caribbean area. INVEMAR is charged with conducting basic and applied research on the natural renewable resources and the environment of coastal and oceanic ecosystems. Besides, INVEMAR is also a Research Infrastructure that manages the Marine Environment Information System.

Main outcomes

A document on the current needs and status from the point of view of Research Infrastructures on the knowledge and actions regarding identified “Marine Global Challenges”. This document will serve as input for a policy-oriented document on the outcomes of the workshop, providing a overview of the challenges and opportunities identified and suggestions of what is required going
forward on a policy level.

Stirring collaborations among Research Infrastructures and Research Infrastructure-like institutions at the international level (e.g. pilot projects proposals).

Preliminary Agenda

Day 1

Session 1:
Welcome by local authorities, introductions and overview of the workshop targets and technicalities.

Session 2:

Review of the Marine Global Challenges described by COOP+ project members (pico-presentations).

World cafe to review gaps and main aspects of each Global Challenge.

Session 3:

Research Infrastructures' quick overview: capabilities and perspectives regarding the Global Challenges and Research Infrastructures cooperation.

Session 4:

Parallel sessions to work on each Global Challenge description (review of the template, status of the writing process, challenge within the challenge). All relevant materials regarding Global Challenges descriptions will be distributed among participants prior to the workshop.

Day 2 Session 1:

Parallel sessions to work on each Global Challenge description (continuation from previous session).

Session 2:

Planning for pilot project: discussion on how to prepare a pilot project to implement part of the topics discussed during the challenge description.

Session 3:

Policy-oriented document: development of table, report and recommendations to derive.

Closest airport to venue is Simón Bolívar International Airport (Santa Marta). More options for international flights can be found through Bogotá Airport, which has frequent flights to Simón Bolívar Airport. In order to ensure everyone’s presence during the whole workshop, attendees are encouraged to fly on the 6th and the 10th November.

Hotel:

The recommended hotel is Tamacá Torre Norte, where a fixed prize for attendees has been closed. For reservations, please contact Karen Gómez Montenegro (Sales Executive) through ventas1@tamaca.com.co or +5754227015 (extension 1112), indicating "Meeting COOP+ INVEMAR". If you have any questions regarding reservations, do not hesitate to contact us to ask for more details.